Type @ and a name
Type @@ and a name in a scene to link it to a character or a world entry. Another name they go by works too, and is what gets written. Choose from the list with the arrow keys and ↩Enter. A name that’s new makes the character as you press ↩Enter, or, from the list, a world entry in the category you choose.
You can also select words and choose Link in the bubble (⇧⌘KCtrl+Shift+K), or right-click a name the spell checker doesn’t know and link it from there.
What a mention does
At rest, a mention is just your words over a hairline. Point at it to see who or what it is, with Show in Context, Open, and Remove Link. Click it with ⌘Ctrl held (or press ⌘↩Ctrl+Enter with the caret in it) to show it in Context. A plain click only places the caret: the words stay yours to edit.
Mentions are for the draft. Readers never see them: reading the book shows plain words, and so does every export.
Context
Context ( ⌘ + \Ctrl + \ ) sits beside the page and shows the plan of the scene you’re writing: its summary, its notes, the plotlines it moves and how, its point of view, its characters, and its world entries, all editable there.
Click a character, a place, or a plotline to read about them without leaving the manuscript, and follow their connections from there; Back steps back one at a time. Anyone the text mentions who isn’t in the plan yet is listed under Mentioned, one click from being added.
Names everywhere
Every mention shows up under Linked From on the page it points to, so a character’s page lists every scene that names them. The spell checker knows every name and alias in your cast and your world, and never marks them.
Renaming a character updates the mentions in your planning pages that read as the old name, and never rewrites your manuscript.